Brotherhood returns to its underground

For Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, a fierce crackdown has led to a return to its underground existence of the past: avoiding phones and the Internet, changing homes and blending in.
Ever since security forces forcibly dispersed two Cairo camps of protesters loyal to ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, members of his Muslim Brotherhood organisation have been on the run.
Authorities have arrested the group's top leaders, including its supreme guide, effectively decapitating the movement and disrupting its organisational structure.
Morsi himself is detained at a secret location and authorities have charged him and other Brotherhood members with involvement in the deaths of protesters.
The campaign of arrests has forced the Brotherhood back to ways it had largely abandoned as it inched its way into the spotlight.
Long banned in Egypt, the group had become gradually more tolerated in the years before the 2011 revolution, winning parliamentary seats through candidates who ran as independents.
It took centre-stage only after the uprising which toppled president Hosni Mubarak, winning a majority in parliament and then the presidency. But Morsi's July 3 ouster has reset the clock.
"We've gone back to direct contact after having banned the use of telephones and the Internet, which could allow us to be found," said Aisha, an activist in the Alexandria region of northern Egypt, giving a false name for security reasons.